The time has come
by jadephoenix
Summary: Facing the coming dark period for ningenkai, Koenma thinks about his friends (YYH)


Small intro:

Remember that during the Sensui saga Koenma mentioned a coming dark period for mankind in a few hundred years time? This fic is about his thoughts before the event. If anybody thought of a better title, please tell me too. There is the possibility that this will lead on to a longer story but that possibility is getting more and more remote as time goes by.

The time has come

The time had come, finally. Anticipating a possibly fatal fight for a few hundred years is not easy but I am always so busy that I never really have time to think about it. I am so tired, so tired. I do not really care whether I will survive this battle, the only reason that I even remember about this battle at all is that if I lose, everybody, at least, every ningen will have to suffer. A fate worse than hell, they would say but they do not know hell, not yet anyway.

You are risking the future of mankind to fight me?

The accusation Sensui hurled at me remains fresh, as if they were spoken just a while ago. Yes, I am willing to risk losing this battle than to lose the one with Sensui. I am willing to become a part of the kekkai that will hold him and Makai then because if he wins there would be no future to come much less worry about. But I am wrong and I have lost. Wasted a few hundred years of hardship as Sensui put it.

Excuses, excuses! You are just being selfish and you know it, knew it…

Argh, I really do not want to think about this anymore. Yes, I just want to redeem myself. I never believe much in justice, not in life anyway. Justice comes only after death. Life is never meant to be fair, this world is never meant to be fair. If you want justice, sought it, if not, accept injustice and learn to forgive and forget. Forget, that's the word but sometimes it is practically impossible to do so. Not so much when the injustice is being done to you but when the injustice is being done to your dearest, your friends, your family. What had Sensui done to earn this fate? He is the one that completely believes in justice, with the power to seek it and yet in the end he is betrayed by it. And here am I, the unbeliever, representing at least the assistant to Justice, if not the persona of it. It is an irony, especially when I am the one to send him on the path to self- destruction. I want to give him justice or at least pay for my mistakes.

Even if you had to make more?

I am always making mistakes anyway and I am paying for them everyday. Guilt is the fuel that keeps me going on. To replenish the energy wasted in the battle with Sensui, I have to put in as much reiki as I can into the fuukuman before this calamity arrives, which resulted in me looking so pale and gaunt that souls would be spooked by me even if I were in my baby form. I don't keep that form anymore. Once upon a time, I had different duties from my father and I am careful not to upset or frightened the few souls that I have to meet. Things are different now, I can no longer just have few peaceful discussions with the souls I meet.

The Ningenkai had changed much ever since the barrier was taken down, allowing youkai free access to Ningenkai. For a few decades, the ningen were protected from bloodbath by the Makai lords who all seems to be friends of Yuusuke or to the least, like- minded youkai. The tournament held every three years had long since extended to be held only every ten years. When Yuusuke first set the tournament, he is an impatient young man. It is just in his character to not take into consideration that even if one can improve drastically, three years are a short time to practice when you and your competitors seems to be able to live forever. There had been little protest when Yuusuke changed the rules during his reign. Nobody had the gall to provoke him after the death of Keiko. It isn't so much that he suddenly acquire a violent temper, (for that matter, he always have a violent temper) but that he had turned completely to a Toushin and that his two sons are every bit as fight- thirsty and powerful as their father in his younger days. Ah, Urameshi Yuusuke, he always brings a smile to my face whenever I saw him on the screen. He had not changed much for two hundred years. There may be a certain melancholy and world-weariness to his demeanour but the spirited young fighter is always there. He had sworn to Keiko never to languish like his father, Raizen, and he kept good his word. Kuruma brought up the topic most tactfully before the marriage of Kuwabara and Yukina, making sure that each youkai understand that their respective ningen marriage partner can only accompany them for a small fraction of their lifespan.

After Kuwabara died at the ripe old age of 90, Yukina vanished. Nobody knows where she went, not even her four children, not even Hiei with his Jagan. Kuruma said that it was a certain pact she had made with Kuwabara, that she is still alive and well and will reappear in a few years. The few years stretched to a hundred years until finally Kuruma is pestered enough to reveal the details of the pact to Hiei but Hiei's reactions are so muted that everybody else is only further mystified. Kuwabara only rolled his eyes and cupped his mouth to hide a smile when I interrogated him, God knows what he had asked Yukina to do! He even managed to go for rebirth seconds before Hiei blazed up to Reikai to 'ask' him for the whereabouts of Yukina. Those two had continued to maintain a precarious relationship even with Yukina's marriage to Kuwabara, especially with the marriage in fact, as Kuwabara remains ignorant of Hiei relations with Yukina. By Enma, they simply can't grow up!

Kuruma is incredibly efficient working as a peacemaker in his youko form. One glare from his eyes is enough to literally freeze any explosive tantrums and cool off rising tempers. After losing his ningen form completely, Kuruma shed all signs of subtlety and appeared almost heartless. But those who knows him well will still be able to sense the gentleness and empathy the youko had gained after learning to be human. I can surely sense it, for the few times that Kuruma visited to discuss matters of Makai or Ningenkai. He is the only one of the ex-reikai tentai I would meet in person after one century of over exerting my powers. The others I would only meet with using the viewer with a superimposed image of myself during my healthier days. The advancement of technology had allowed me to make the image's mouth move in real time with my speech. Not that they can really notice much difference anyway, with the fuukuman in my mouth.

"Koenma-sama, Koenma-sama"

That must be George, he still can't shake off the habit of calling me Koenma even though I am effectively Enma-sama for a hundred years already. He will manage to call me properly for the few times that he is not excited or on the edge. Obviously, from the tone of his voice, I guess I must be ready to do battle.


End file.
